The 22nd Other Minds Festival was a special tribute to one of the most gifted and inspiring figures in the history of American classical music, Lou Harrison. “Just 100: Hommage to Lou Harrison” celebrates his 100th birth anniversary with two very special concerts held in February and May, 2017 at the Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco. The second concert - Lou Harrison Gamelan Masterpieces - was held on May 20th, to a capacity audience of 800 people.

The first half of the concert began and ended with two striking organ works performed by the Basilica’s organist Jerome Lenk: The first, “Praises for Michael the Archangel” has been described as Harrison at his thorniest (see musical selection notes below). The second, “Pedal Sonata” is played only by foot on the organ pedals and has rarely been heard live. In between organ works, harpist Meredith Clark performed “Threnody for Oliver Daniel”, followed by  “Suite for Cello & Harp”, a moving duet with cellist Emil Miland.

After intermission, Other Minds’ Executive & Artistic Director Charles Amirkhanian was honored with the Champion of New Music Award by the American Composers Forum. The award was bestowed by the ACF’s President John Nuechterlein. Amirkhanian was additionally gifted an original cereal box for Wheaties (the breakfast of champions), graced by his image and manufactured by General Mills, who like the ACF, is based in St. Paul, Minnesota.

The second half of the concert featured two of Harrison’s major gamelan works: La Koro Sutro (The Heart Sutra), which also includes a chorus of 100, organ, and harp; and Suite for Violin & American Gamelan, both performed under conductor Nicole Paiement. The gamelan used for the performances was Harrison’s original American gamelan known as “Old GrandDad”, built by Harrison himself and his life partner, Bill Colvig. The set-up, which included galvanized garbage cans, oxygen tanks and iron gongs among other instruments, were used deftly by William Winant and his percussion group.

The attendance for this concert was truly record breaking for Other Minds. The audience was informally surveyed by a show of hands, and approximately forty percent expressed having met/known and/or worked with Lou Harrison. The Basilica made for an intimate and very appropriate setting for a tribute to his music (Harrison studied Gregorian chant here in the 1930’s). During the rest of 2017, many others will also be celebrating Lou Harrison’s centennial and Other Minds has launched a website devoted to events around the world that pay homage to this beloved composer. Visit: otherminds.org/lou100

About the Composer:

Lou Silver Harrison was born in Portland, Oregon, on May 14, 1917. Harrison’s eclectic musical style was born from rich cultural influences: Baroque, pre-Baroque, and Renaissance period music, Native American and Asian music, twelve-tone composition, historic or “just” tunings and, most notably, the gamelan music of Java and Bali. Perhaps more than any other 20th century composer, Lou had the widest ranging “wandering ear.” His studies included composition with Henry Cowell and Arnold Schoenberg. From 1945 to 1948, Harrison wrote for the New York Herald Tribune under chief music critic, Virgil Thomson. He was introduced to Charles Ives and helped reconstruct that elder composer’s Symphony No. 3. When he conducted the world premiere on April 5, 1946, with the NY Little Symphony, the work was awarded the following year’s Pulitzer Prize.

Harrison’s oeuvre was remarkably large and varied including chamber, choral and orchestral works, gamelan, dance, and opera, often employing world, folk instruments, and newly invented instruments built from items from auto shops and junkyards. In 1967 he met his life partner William Colvig who helped him invent instruments replicating the Indonesian gamelan but with his own just intonation tunings.  A true renaissance man, Lou was also an accomplished dancer, artist, poet, calligrapher, esperantist and an important advocate for gay causes and pacifism.

Among the many institutions where Harrison taught or was in residence included Reed College, Portland, Black Mountain College in North Carolina, the University of Hawaii, Stanford University, Mills College, and San Jose State University. The recipient of innumerable grants and awards, he received two Guggenheim fellowships and Rockefeller and Fulbright awards.

By 1953 he was back in California, taking up residence in rural Aptos, near Santa Cruz, and creating a series of works embracing Pacific Rim influences. In 1963 he, along with Victor Jowers, Robert Hughes and Gerhard Samuel began a small summer festival that evolved in the long-running Cabrillo Music Festival of Contemporary Music.

Lou Harrison passed away at 85 on February 2, 2003, leaving behind a vast legacy of musical and theatrical works, and an indelible influence on a younger generation of musicians.

Concert 2 - Lou Harrison Gamelan Masterpieces

Praises for Michael the Archangel for organ (1946-47)

Jerome Lenk, organ

Threnody for Oliver Daniel for harp (1990)

Meredith Clark, harp

Suite for Cello & Harp (1948)

I. Chorale

II. Pastoral and Rondeau

III. Interlude

IIII. Aria

V. Chorale (reprise)

Emil Miland, cello

Meredith Clark, harp

Pedal Sonata for Organ (1987/1989)

I. quarter = circa 68

II. As fast as possible

III. Very Slow

IIII. Jahla–Fast

Jerome Lenk, organ

Intermission

Lou Harrison & Richard Dee

 Suite for Violin & American Gamelan

(1974), composed with Richard Dee

 I. Threnody

II. Estampie

III. Air

IIII. Jahla I-II-III

V. Chaconne

Shalini Vijayan, violin

William Winant Percussion Group

William Winant, Director and percussion

Ed Garcia, percussion

Jon Meyers, percussion

Sean Josey, percussion

Henry Wilson, percussion

Sarong Kim, percussion

Nicole Paiement, conductor

Lou Harrison

La Koro Sutro (The Heart Sutra, 1972) for large mixed chorus, organ, harp, and American Gamelan

Kunsonoro Kaj Gloro (Chime and Glory)

1a Paragrafo

2a Paragrafo

3a Paragrafo

4a Paragrafo

5a Paragrafo

6a Paragrafo

7a Paragrafo–Mantro kaj Kusonoro

Jerome Lenk, organ

Meredith Clark, harp

Resound Choir, Lu.ik Aprah.mian, Music Director

Mission Dolores Choir, Jerome Lenk, Music Director

The William Winant Percussion Group

Nicole Paiement, conductor

[Notes taken from the printed program.]

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